Sunday, June 29, 2008

Victimless Crime of "Ticket Scalping" Now Legal

Philadelphia -- As you might expect, scalping isn't a term used much anymore. The buzzword is "secondary ticket market," and all over the entertainment and sports industry, business is booming, turbo-charged by the technological advances of recent years. Under a new 5-year revenue-sharing agreement between Major League Baseball and StubHub - where ticket-holders sell their tickets to buyers online - MLB is guaranteed $200 million over the five years and could make as much as $300 million.

The 25% profit on each ticket sale (15% from the seller and 10% from the buyer) is divided three ways, with a third to the club, a third to StubHub, and a third to Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which is the Internet subsidiary of Major League Baseball. The clubs had the choice of whether to be a part of the deal and only Boston chose not to participate. Except for Boston, MLB teams now have links on their websites to StubHuB, see Philadelphia Phillies here.HT: Ben Cunningham